AUSTIN – For the second consecutive weekend, NM State Softball hits the road, this time heading east for the Longhorn Invitational in Austin. The Crimson & White will play five games during over the tournament, including a bout with the nation's top-ranked hosts. Head Coach Kathy Rodolph's squad looks to snap a four-game losing skid that dropped them to 9-8 last weekend at the Sun Devil/GCU Classic in Phoenix.
 
The Aggies will begin against South Florida (13-4) at 11:00 a.m. CT, on Friday, before taking on Abilene Christian (3-12) at approximately 1:30 p.m. Saturday's slate will commence with a rematch against the Wildcats and conclude with the No. 1-ranked Longhorns (15-1) at the same scheduled times (11:00 and 1:30). Lastly, NM State will wrap up its weekend against Alabama A&M (7-3) at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday. All games will be available to follow via StatBroadcast.
 
NM State Weekend Schedule (All times MT)
Game 1: Friday (10:00 AM) – vs. South Florida (13-4)
Game 2: Friday (12:30 PM) – vs. Abilene Christian (3-12)
Game 3: Saturday (10:00 AM) – vs. Abilene Christian (3-12)
Game 4: Saturday (12:30 PM) – at #3 Texas (15-1)
Game 5: Sunday (9:00 AM) – vs. Alabama A&M (7-3)
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Aggies played five games in Phoenix for the Sun Devil/GCU Classic last weekend, finishing with a 1-4 record. After toppling Portland State 8-3 in the tournament opener, the Aggie bats slowed down, plating seven runs on 21 hits across the final four contests. Three Power Four programs notably highlighted the final four opponents, including No. 3 Florida. The skid dropped the Aggies to 9-8 overall.
 
COACH'S THOUGHTS
Head Coach Kathy Rodolph, on the Longhorn Invitational: "I feel like we've had some very strong competition as we go into the final week before conference, and I'm hoping that we're able to steady ourselves and get back to playing the way we know we can. I think we got on our heels a little bit with the tough competition last week, but I feel that we've had a great week of practice and I'd like to see it come through when we play this weekend."
 
Head Coach Kathy Rodolph, on if facing the No. 1 team adds pressure: "Not really. I think that it's an opportunity to challenge yourself against the best in your sport and I feel like that's a privilege. I hope we look at the game as a privilege instead of pressure."
 
HOCO FOR JOJO
Three members of the roster call Texas home, including Lauren Garcia and Desirae Spearman. First-year Aggie Joleeanna Hair is the closest to an Austin product, though, as the true freshman hails from Copperas Cove, approximately 66 miles from Texas' Red and Charline McCombs Field. Hair tallied the second hit and third run of her career last weekend against California Baptist, later earning the starting lineup for the first time at Arizona State on Sunday. 
 
SUPER SLUGGERS
Spearman is one of six players in all of NCAA Division I with at least nine home runs through the opening three weekends of the season. The sophomore's prowess as a home run threat has granted her 13 walks drawn this season; a mark that puts her tied for 24^th in the nation. The second-year Aggie is on pace (79.69) to shatter her own mark of 43 RBIs that paced last year's roster. However, Spearman is far from alone in an Aggie lineup that has been daunting for opposing pitchers in 2025. 
 
The team ranks 19^th in the nation with a slugging percentage of .583, while ranking second in CUSA with a .346 batting average. The unit leads the league and is ranks within the top 10 nationally in both hits (158) and home runs (24), with nearly half of its' base knocks (76) coming from incoming transfers. 
 
Four Aggies rank among the conference's top 15 in hits, due in large part to two newcomers; Kristiana Watson (20) and Faith Aragon (19). The former leads CUSA with six doubles, putting her second on the team with 20 RBIs, a mark that puts Watson on pace to finish 2025 with 61.17.
 
ALL IN THE FAMILY
17 newcomers grace the 2025 squad, including eight true freshmen. The first-year student-athletes are comprised of one local Las Cruces product, four California natives, two Arizonans and a Texan broken into three catchers, two infielders, an outfielder, a pitcher and a utility player. 
 
Two sets of three relatives make up a majority of the transfer crop. First, the Aragons; a local trio that includes sisters Faith and Grace as well as cousin Johnna. All three Aragons hail from nearby Carlsbad, N.M., and saw action at UTEP a season ago. The former earned an All-CUSA Freshman Team selection in 2024 as a pitcher.
 
Additionally, three more sisters enter the building as Taylor, Kenzie and Payton Nicholson will don the Crimson & White in 2025. Taylor and Kenzie have each made stops at Arizona State, while Kenzie is most recently from CUSA foe Jax State. Payton spent her freshman season at Georgia State as a utility/infield player.  
 
Taryn Bennet, Lauren Garcia and Kristiana Watson round out the crop of nine additions. Bennet spent her freshman season as a pitcher at Hampton, Garcia faced the Aggies in the Battle of I-25 each of the past three seasons at New Mexico and Watson entered as a redshirt junior with two prior stops at Power Five institutions.
 
Kristiana is the younger sister of David Watson, an Aggie graduate assistant who has coached third base this season. The siblings are children of Laura Espinoza-Watson, Arizona Softball's all-time leader in career home runs and the NCAA single-season leader in RBIs with 128.
 
Lastly, the Lunar sisters are each in their third season with the program. Kendal has been a career Aggie behind the plate and Kayla started all but one game last season at third base.
 
CAN'T START MUCH BETTER THAN THAT…
There have been few debuts in program history that rival that of Lauren Garcia. After three seasons with New Mexico, the El Paso, Texas, native made her way back to the Borderlands. In 15 at-bats, the Montwood High School product racked up nine hits, including eight for extra bases. Four home runs and as many doubles each led the team as the redshirt sophomore tallied a whopping 25 total bases in just six games. Garcia accounted for 12 RBIs, including 10 on Sunday alone; eight of which came against Kansas City in the final game of the weekend. 
 
A team-high .600 batting average was boosted by three walks for an on-base percentage of .667. The team-high eight extra-base hits resulted in a then-nation's best 1.667 slugging percentage and an otherworldly 2.333 OPS. Conference USA recognized the remarkable weekend by tabbing Lauren Garcia as the first CUSA Player of the Week for 2025. 
 
HISTORY UNMATCHED
When NM State Softball is mentioned, one name immediately comes to mind; Kathy Rodolph. As she enters her 22^ndseason at the helm, the legendary head coach has amassed 608 wins with the Aggies; well more than half of the program's all-time total (1,140). 
 
Last season, Rodolph surpassed two career milestones, doing so in dramatic fashion both times. On April 12, the Aggies found themselves down to their final out against FIU while trailing 6-5. After a Devin Elam single knotted the affair, Riley Carley sent a missile to left-center field to walk off a series-opening win and etch Rodolph's 600^th program win into the record books. 
 
A few weeks later, on the same field, more magic ensued. In their first game of the CUSA Championship, the Aggies trailed by two runs on their home field against Jacksonville State in the bottom of the seventh inning. Two straight home runs tied the ballgame at 5-5, queueing an extra eighth inning. After two straight outs to start the inning, senior standout Jillian Taylor launched a ball over the left field fence to advance her side to the next round in thrilling fashion. The victory was extra sweet for Coach Rodolph, as it was the 800^th of her career, including stops at El Paso CC (1999-00) and Angelo State (2002-03).
 
Over her time with the Crimson & White, Rodolph has guided the squad to six WAC Regular-Season Championships, four WAC Tournament Championships and four NCAA Regional appearances. Rodolph is also a five-time WAC Coach of the Year and has had 17 players named to an NFCA All-Region team. Under Rodolph, the Aggies have captured nine of the last 10 Conference Player of the Year awards and three of the last four league Freshman of the Year Awards.
 
LEAGUE ON NOTICE
Devin Elam and Desirae Spearman each earned All-CUSA Preseason Team honors late last month. A season ago, Elam and Spearman combined for 92 hits, 23 home runs and a total of 37 extra-base hits. The pair accounted for 76 starts across 79 outings, tallying 239 at-bats. In the batter's box, the pair of outfielders recorded a net .385 batting average while reaching base on .445 of all at-bats, mashing their way to a .741 slugging percentage and a 1.186 OPS. Spearman was tied for the team lead with 43 RBIs while Elam ranked second with 36, racking up a combined 31.7% of all runs batted in for Kathy Rodolph's offense in 2024. 
 
The duo each earned First Team honors from the conference in 2024, including Spearman's two selections; one at outfielder and one at pitcher. The two lead the 2025 squad into their second year in the league. CUSA's preseason coaches' poll tabbed the Aggies as the third-highest favorite, receiving just one fewer point (82) than WKU (83). Both teams were in the final two games of last year's postseason tournament, but each fell to eventual champion Liberty, who was picked first in the poll with 99 points. The Lady Flames were awarded Preseason Player (Rachel Roupe) and Pitcher (Elena Escobar) of the Year by CUSA.
 
SCOUTING THE FIELD
The Bulls are led by 28^th-year Head Coach Ken Eriksen, who holds 1,130 wins with the program. This season, the 13-4 squad is led on the field by Alex Wilkes' .440 batting average and two players with eight home runs on the young season. 
 
Abilene Christian is under the direction of first-time Head Coach Jo Koons. The Wildcats have three wins in 15 tries this season. Elizabeth Schaefer leads the squad with a .306 batting average. 
 
Texas, the No. 1 team in all of Division I softball, holds a 15-1 record this season under 7^th-year Head Coach Mike White. The Longhorns are looking to make it back to the College World Series, where they did last year, before falling to Oklahoma in the Championship Series.
 
Brian Daley is a fith-year Head Coach, but is in his first with Alabama A&M. The Bulldogs are 7-3 this season, led by Heaven Bibbs' .462 batting average and Alyssa Charter-Smith's 1.79 ERA.
 
SERIES HISTORIES
NM State trails South Florida 1-7 since the two sides' first meeting in 1987. The Aggies' lone win came in one of four all-time neutral meetings when NM State prevailed 4-3 on March 1, 2008.
 
NM State is 4-1 all-time against ACU, with wins in each of the last four meetings. However, every prior matchup has taken place in Las Cruces, making this weekend the first neutral meeting. Last season, NM State swept the Wildcats in two matchups during the first weekend of the season, outscoring the visitors by a combined score of 12-2.
 
The Crimson & White hold a .500 record against the Longhorns, with one win apiece. NM State won in Las Cruces in 2001 and Texas picked up a neutral victory a month later. The matchup has never taken place in Austin.
 
Sunday's meeting with Alabama A&M will be the first in history. NM State has two new opponents on the 2025 schedule, including the Bulldogs and new-to-CUSA Kennesaw State.
 
For complete coverage of NM State Softball during the 2025 season, visit NMStateSports.com – the official home of the Aggies – and follow the Aggies on Facebook (NM State Softball), Twitter (@NMStateSoftball) and Instagram (@NMStateSoftball).